* Conscientious
Objectors: any registrant found by his Local Board to be a member of any
well-recognized religious sect or organization organized & existing before
May 18, 1917,

& whose existing
creed or principles forbade its members to participate in war in any form,
& whose religious convictions were against war or participation therein in
accordance

with the creed or principles of said religious
organization, were to be furnished with a certificate by said Local Board
stating that he could only be required to serve in a capacity

declared by the President to be noncombatant. He
would, however, be classified as any other registrant was.

I

Liable to military service in the orderdetermined by the national drawing

II

Temporary (dependency) discharge from draft;
effective until Class I in the jurisdiction of the same Local Board was
exhausted; registrants with both wife & children, or any father of motherless
children, where such wife & children were not mainly dependent upon the
registrant’s labor for support; also, registrants whose wives could support themselves through employment

III

Temporary (dependency) discharge from draft; effective until
Classes I & II in the jurisdiction of the same Local Board was exhausted;
registrants who were responsible forchildren not their own & who were dependent on
registrant’s labor for support; registrants who had aged, inform or invalid
parents or grandparents mainly dependent on registrants' government employees

IV

Temporary (dependency) discharge from draft;
effective until Classes I, II & III in the jurisdiction of the same Local
Board was exhausted; any married registrant whose wife or children were mainly dependent on registrant’s labor for
support; also included mariners employed in sea service

V

Exemption or discharge from draft; including:

- ordained ministers
-
students who on May 18, 1917 had been prepared for ministry in
a recognized theological or divinity school
-
persons in the military or naval service of the
United States
(officers
& enlisted men)
-
alien enemies
-
resident aliens
-
persons found to be totally & permanently physically or mentally
unfit for military service
-
persons show to have been convicted of any crime designated as
treason or felony, or an “infamous” crime
- licensed pilots actually employed in the pursuit of his vocation

Objectors Under the Draft Laws As Of December 1, 1942" (see Subject File: Conscientious
Objection/Objectors -- U.S. Sources, 1942)]* all males between the ages of 18
& 65 were required to register for the draft; those who became 18 after
January 1, 1943 were to register on their 18th birthday

I

Available for service

I-A

Available; fit for general
military service

I-A-O

Conscientious objectors eligible for military service
in noncombatant role

I-B

Available; fit only for
limited military service

I-B-O

Conscientious objectors available for limited service
[not used after Aug. 18, 1942]

I-C

Members of land or naval
forces of the
United States

I-D

Students fit for general
military service; available not later than July 1, 1941

I-E

Students fit for limited
military service; available not later than July 1, 1941

I-H

Men deferred by reason of age
[not in effect any more, as provision deferring men over 28 years of age had
been repealed?]

II

Deferred because of occupational status

II-A

Men necessary in their civilian activity

II-B

Men necessary to national defense

II-C

Men necessary to farm labor

III

Deferred because of dependents

III-A

Men with dependents, not engaged in work essential to national defense

III-B

Men with dependents, engaged in
work essential to national defense

IV

Deferred specifically by law or because
unfit for military service

IV-A

Men who had completed service [not considered in time
of war]

IV-B

Officials deferred by law

IV-C

Nondeclarant aliens

IV-D

Ministers of religion or divinity students

IV-E

Conscientious objectors available only for civilian
work of national importance

IV-E-LS

Conscientious objectors available for
limited civilian work of national importance

IV-E-H

Men formerly classified in IV-E or
IV-E-LS, since deferred by reason of age

IV-F

Men physically, mentally or morally unfit

SELECTIVE SERVICE
ACT OF 1948

IV-E

Conscientious objectors opposed
to both combatant & noncombatant military service [all to be given
statuatory deferments]

UNIVERSAL MILITARY TRAINING AND SERVICE ACT, 1951 [AS A RESULT OF THE KOREAN
WAR]

In 1950, the CCCO published Conscientious Objectors Under Selective Service, with this advice: "C.O.'s opposed only to combatant military service, but willing to accept non-combatant military service in the Army, should fill in I-A-O unless they have other basis for deferment. C.O.'s opposed to to all military service, both combatant and non-combatant, should fill in IV-E, regardless of any other basis for deferment" (p. 12). See also the 1951 revised handbook.
In 1952, the CCO published its Handbook for Conscientious Objectors [there were many later editions], with this list (p. 11-13):

I-A

Available for military service

I-A-O

C.O. available for non-combatant duty/service

I-C

Member of the armed forces

I-D

Member of an organized reserve unit of the armed forces or student in approved officer procurement program

I-F

Physically, mentally or morally unfit

I-O

C.O. opposed to both combatant and non-combatant military duty and available for assignment to civilian work

I-S

High school student under twenty years of age, I-S (H), or college student who has received an order to report for induction, I-S (C),
and is deferred to complete his school year

I-W

C.O.'s in assigned civilian service. Upon satisfactory completion of civilian service, C.O.'s are classified I-W (R) until past the age of liability for the draft, when they are reclassified as V-A

II-A

Deferred because of essential civilian employment, except agriculture or study

II-C

Deferred because of essential agricultural employment

II-S

Deferred for study

III-A

Deferred because of dependents; includes registrants with wife and child [see page 12 for details]

IV-A

Registrant with sufficient credit for World War II military duty. Sole surviving son of family with one or more sons or daughters who died in line of duty or result of such duty in the armed forces

IV-B

Officials deferred by law

IV-C

Aliens

IV-D

Ministers and full time students preparing for the ministry under the direction of a recognized church or religious organization

MARCH 1, 1962
REVISED CLASSIFICATIONS[See NSBRO reference files re: the Selective
Service System, Series I-1; also Handbook
for Conscientious Objectors (11th ed.) by the CCCO, Sept. 1970,
for more details on ages of draftees, etc.]

* Some of the
deferments listed were not available to new applicants by 1970

I-A

Available
for combat service

I-A-O

Available for noncombatant service

I-C

Members of the
active armed forces, or commissioned officers in Environmental Science Service
Administration or Public Health Service

I-D

Member of reserve unit of the armed forces, or student taking military training

I-O

Available for civilian work
assignment [ordered into or assigned into the conscientious objector work
program by their local draft boards, to perform civilian work
24 consecutive months]

I-S

Deferment for students [for
high school students under age 20, undergraduate college students who had
received an order to report for induction, or a “very few” graduate students]

I-W

“At Work” conscientious
objectors [once I-O registrants were assigned to civilian work, they were
then reclassified I-W by their local draft boards]

I-Y

Unqualified for duty except
in time of declared war or national emergency

II-A

Occupational deferment because
of essential employment, or deferred to full-time study in a trade school,
community or junior college, or approved apprenticeship program

II-C

Agricultural deferment

II-D [I-D?]

Deferment for members of military reserve
units, or students taking advanced ROTC

II-S

Deferment for college students [for those who had not yet reached their 24th birthday; also for
graduate students of medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, osteopathy & optometry, & graduate students in their fifth year of
continuous study toward a doctoral degree]

III-A

Dependency deferment [deferred because of having a child or childre with whom he maintains a bona fide family relationship; deferred because of extreme hardship to dependents]

IV-A

Exemption for veterans &
sole surviving sons [for those whose military duty obligation was
completed, or for only surviving sons of a family in which the father, or one
or more sons or daughters, were killed or died in the line of
duty while in the Armed Forces, or subsequently died as a result of such
service]

IV-B

Certain officials / elected officials deferred by law

IV-C

Exemption for certain aliens [aliens not on permanent resident status who have not remained in the United States for more than one year; resident aliens who leave the USA; resident aliens granted relief from liability for military service]

IV-D

Exemption for ministers &
divinity students

IV-F

Unfit for military service

V-A

Over-age [26 years old if
never deferred; 35 years old for those who held a deferment / with "extended liability"]

Conscientious
objectors opposed to both combatant & noncombatant military training &
service; fulfills service obligation as a civilian alternative service
worker

1-A-O

Conscientious objectors opposed to
training & military service requiring the use of arms; fulfills service
obligation in a noncombatant position within the military

2-D

Ministerial students;
deferred from military service

3-A

Hardship
deferment; deferred from military service because service would cause
hardship upon their families

4-C

Alien or dual national;
sometimes exempt from military service

4-D

Ministers
of religion; exempted from military service

Student Postponements: a college student may have his
induction postponed until he finishes the current semester or, if a senior, the
end of the academic year. A high school student may have his induction postponed until he
graduates or until he reaches age 20. Appealing a
Classification: a registree may appeal his classification to a Selective
Service Appeal Board.

_________________________________________________________This page written 2007; updated in April 2011 and March 2014